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NEWS EDITOR GREG MIGLIORE: The 2012 Ford Focus Electric is a reasonable, measured approach at attempting to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil, meet future fuel economy regulations and obviously, sell cars. There is respectable range, as I took the car from downtown Detroit to a northwestern suburb for an evening meeting, and then out to the far northern stretches. There was a bit of stop-and-go traffic, which worried me, though the distance wasn’t actually that far.

The instrument panel offered plenty of useful information for efficiency, and the MyFord Touch layout was simple enough to operate. After using it in a few different Fords, I’m getting the hang of it.

The drive experience is preferable to the raspy, weak feeling offered by some hybrids. This has smooth, silky torque summoned in copious amounts and channeled through a single gear. Launches and merging were not nerve-racking in the least, and there is more than adequate power for maneuvers. The steering is light, the regenerative brakes feel heavy, and the cabin atmosphere is quiet. It was interesting recouping some range when the brakes captured some of the energy -- and seeing it all displayed on the instrument panel.

I’m a fan of the looks of the Focus hatchback. To my eye, it looks better than the sedan, with curvy proportions and a Euro-five-door demeanor. The grille looks like it should be on a Vanquish, and the headlights are nicely executed to add appropriate bling. With government incentives, the car gets up to $10,000 in discounts, making it reasonable for many consumers. A $30,000-Focus is a bit steep, but there is still a premium to be paid for electric technology. Think how expensive DVD players used to be. There is a satisfaction with getting in the car at the end of the day with a charge, and than plugging it back in upon returning to work the following morning. With a home charger, it would feel even better -- sort of like you’re cheating the system and avoiding gas stations. It’s charging as I type this. I like that.

Functionally the Focus doesn’t give up much. There is still a decent amount of room under the back hatch, though the batteries do occupy part of it. There’s cargo area for a power cord, and the entire space would still work for a family’s weekly shopping.

I liked this car. I did a shorter drive than I normally perform, and I would have been a bit more nervous going the full distance. But if I lived closer to a city, this would make an excellent commuter machine.

DIGITAL EDITOR ANDREW STOY: With the Ford Focus Electric notch in my belt, I think I’ve now piloted every mainstream -- assuming that word can be applied to any of these cutting-edge machines -- electric-drive vehicle on the market today. In terms of driving dynamics, the Focus has the edge on them all. It’s by far the best pure electric, combining the Focus five-door’s good looks with a minimum of cargo intrusion, along with a really nice driving experience.

The Focus Electric just goes -- I’m a huge gas turbine fan, and standing on the accelerator offers that seamless big-jet takeoff roll that only a single-speed pure electric can offer. There’s enough torque to spin the wheels on wet surfaces and tweak the steering wheel in the drivers’ hands.

My least favorite aspect of any electrified vehicle is the schizophrenic regenerative brakes, but Ford really got it right. The brakes on our Focus Electric just felt like normal hydraulic ABS car brakes. There was no re-education or uncertainty about the point at which they were going to grab -- the binders brought the car down to a nice, linear stop and stuffed some juice back into the batteries in the process.

My commute in the Focus Electric took me about 13 miles in stop-and-go traffic with the air and radio on; I ran some errands in the car that evening, then drove back in the next morning in the rain with headlights, wipers and defroster running. All told, I had about 35 relatively high-drain miles in the car, and I drove it normally -- no hypermiling. From a 77-mile initial indicated range, I was left with 43 miles on the battery pack when I parked it and plugged it in on one of our Level 2 chargers the following day. In other words, the car was pretty damn accurate in its estimates -- even MyFord Touch worked just fine the entire time.

As with the Chevrolet Volt, Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi i and others, the value math is difficult to compute. One really needs to have the type of commute, budget and home infrastructure needed to take advantage of what the current crop of electrics have to offer. But the 2012 Ford Focus Electric asks for the fewest sacrifices of any green machine I’m aware of.

ASSOCIATE EDITOR JAKE LINGEMAN: I thought the distance from Autoweek HQ to my house was about 12 miles, so I was suitably impressed when the Ford Focus Electric only lost 14 miles of range, even though I had the air on, and kept up with speeds on I-75. On the way back in the morning it knocked 16 miles off the range. When I got to work in the morning I found out I actually live 16 miles from work, which puts me two miles ahead in the range; I was doing a good bit of energy recuperation though.

The Focus Electric cruises down the expressway like a regular car. I didn’t notice the silent nature of the beast until the morning, because you can still hear everyone else’s car on the road. But imagine if they were all electric, it would be a dead silent commute except for the whoosh of tires.

I don’t know about Andy, but I could feel the regenerative brakes the first time I stepped on them. Granted, they aren’t as bad as Chevy’s used to be, but I can definitely feel the spring back during the first few inches of travel.

I do like playing the mileage game though. The Electric has three gauges, one for acceleration, one for braking and one for cruising. The bars move up and down depending on how efficient you’re driving. I have the accel and brake down, I just can’t figure out how to efficiently cruise. I did find myself looking at red lights from a half-mile away and giving myself a nice long braking period to recharge the battery.

I never found myself needing more power. I jumped up to expressway speeds with no problem and the one time I needed to dart into a lane I just put the pedal down and made the move.

Like Greg, I’m also used to the controls so I had no trouble operating the MyFord Touch and climate control systems. I did find that the MyKey had the radio limited to about half. That was kind of annoying. I’m not sure if we have the administration capabilities to override that.

But it’s pricey at $40,000. That’s Subaru Impreza WRX STI money, that’s Infiniti G37 money, a few more grand and that’s Ford Mustang Boss 302 money. I know that defeats the purpose, but it would be hard for me to drop that kind of cash knowing I could have an enthusiast ride in my garage.